Economics Department

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In an article titled Why driverless cars may mean traffic jams tomorrow, The Economist (January 20, 2018) cites research by Brown's Matthew Turner and co-author Gilles Duranton of the University of Pennsylvania as identifying a "fundamental law of road congestion," to wit: building more highways attracts more driving and drivers, thus failing to alleviate congestion. "The technology of driverless cars may make us safer and more productive, but not necessarily less traffic-bound", states The Economist.

In an Op Ed at the New York Times on Dec. 6, economics professor Jesse Shapiro, with co-authors Levi Boxell and Matthew Gentzkow, discuss the role of social media in the increasing polarization of American voters. They point out that the role of social media can be exaggerated, since it is still not the main news source for more than a relatively small slice of the U.S. population, and polarized views are also stoked by competing television stations and other sources. Moreover, the media don't operate independently of larger forces. They conclude by stating "the factors that likely matter the most are those that have caused the real experiences of Americans to diverge."

Glenn Loury, Merton P. Soltz Professor of Social Sciences, Professor of Economics and Public International Affairs, delivered the 10th Annual Arrow Lecture at Columbia University on December 4. Arrow, 1972 Nobel laureate in Economics who died earlier this year, earned his doctorate at Columbia in 1951. Loury's talk was titled "Persistent racial inequality in the U.S.: an economic theorist's account."

Professor Jesse Shapiro, George S. and Nancy B. Parker Professor of Economics, has been named a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a professional organization founded in 1930 to promote theoretical and quantitative approaches "penetrated by constructive and rigorous thinking similar to that which has come to dominate in natural sciences." Fellows represent the highest authority of the Society, electing its officers, council, and new fellows in annual elections conducted in the autumn. Only five other members of Brown's currently serving faculty enjoy the distinction of election to Fellow of the Econometric Society. Shapiro earned his Ph.D. at Harvard in 2005 and taught at the University of Chicago, including at its Booth School of Business, until joining Brown's Department of Economics in 2014. He is well known for his research on the economics of the media and other topics, and was until recently an editor of the Journal of Political Economy, one of the top general interest journals of the economics profession.

In awarding him the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2014, the Nobel committee called economist Jean Tirole of Toulouse University “one of the most influential economists of our time” and cited especially his work on the regulation of industries dominated by one or a few large firms. Tirole delivered this year’s Garonzik Lecture at Brown on Oct. 27. The event took the form of a conversation with Tirole regarding his new book, Economics for the Common Good, with Brown’s Merton P. Stoltz Professor of Economics, Glenn Loury. Topics included climate change, unemployment, financial regulation, the moral limits of markets, digitization, and why most people don’t like economics.